Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD PCI-e and S2600CW2

[SBaqu]

Hi there,

I'm trying to setup a Samsung m.2 with the S2600CW2 motherboard in a dual xeon configuration but it seems it can't be detected by the system.

Any ideas to make it work??

Many thanks,

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

Thanks for joining the community.I regret to tell you that this particular S2600CW2 board only support SATA M.2 interface hdds. Although M.2 allows support for many different interfaces, the server board supports only the SATA interface (all other interfaces such as PCIe and USB are not supported).Once M.2 device is used on the server board, SATA-4 port cannot be used. SATA-5 can be used at the same time when M.2/NGFF device is used.In order to support full performance from Intel S3500 M.2 device, please use "Performance Mode" in Intel server BIOS setup options to meet thermal requirement. Using "Acoustic Mode" may result in Intel S3500 M.2 device running with reduced performance.For more detailed information check the Technical Product Specification documentation on the following URL at section 3.4.7https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600CW_TPS_Rev2_4.pdf.# page=53 https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600CW_TPS_Rev2_4.pdf.# page=53Hope this helpsJose A.

[idata]

Correct link should be

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600CW_TPS_Rev2_4.pdf.pdf https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/server-products/server-boards/S2600CW_TPS_Rev2_4.pdf.pdf# page=53

[SBaqu]

Hello,

Thanks for your response, I know the board only supports SATA interface. Anyways I was thinking if someone tried some adaptor like SilverStone's ECM21 or similar http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=703&area=en http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=703&area=en

This adaptor converts M.2 into PCI-E x4 interface.

Best,

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

For such adapter we really do not have compatibility information since it is a 3rd party product. You will need to try it by your own.On the other side if what you want is to have an PCIe hdd you could try any NVMe SSD available from the Compatible Products > Data Center SSDs listed under https://ark.intel.com/products/88278/Intel-Server-Board-S2600CW2R https://ark.intel.com/products/88278/Intel-Server-Board-S2600CW2R . They are tested compatible and recognized immediately. Just take into consideration that they can be used for storage only, not as a boot device or part or any RAID. Latest boards does.RegardsJose A.

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

Do you have any updates, questions or comments in regards to this issue?Please do not hesitate to contact us back.If you consider the issue to be completed please let us know so we can proceed to mark this thread as resolved.RegardsJose A.

[SBaqu]

Hi,

I've just tried the M2 to PCI-E adaptor. Windows 10 installation detects the HDD but OS can't be installed because it doesn't appear in the bios boot.

Does anyone know how to boot from a PCI-E card?

Thanks

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

Unfortunately this board S2600CW2 doesn't support NVMe / PCIe bootable devices. In order to boot up the storage device must go through any of the AHCI or RAID controllers so they will be detected as bootable in BIOS. This configuration your are attempting to implement could be used for storage only and not for booting up the OS.RegardsJose A.

[SBaqu]

Hi Jose,

What do you know about using NVMe on Intel S2600CP:

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/nvme-on-intel-s2600cp.9275/ NVMe on Intel S2600CP | ServeTheHome and ServeThe.Biz Forums

Is it the same for CW2?

Thanks,

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

As you correctly stated same applies for the S2600CW2 board. Only 2 PCIe SSD models are supported and is not possible to use them as bootable device.If you are interested in native support for NVMe SSDs (even m.2 format) you will need to get any of the latest "https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/purley/intel-xeon-scalable-processors.html?_ga=2.90234905.2065442020.1525322102-525043495.1524699936 Purley platform" boards to know https://ark.intel.com/products/series/93091/Intel-Server-Board-S2600BP-Family# @Intel-Server-Board-S2600BP-Family S2600BP, https://ark.intel.com/products/series/89018/Intel-Server-Board-S2600WF-Family# @Intel-Server-Board-S2600WF-Family S2600WF and https://ark.intel.com/products/series/93168/Intel-Server-Board-S2600ST-Family# @Intel-Server-Board-S2600ST-Family S2600ST . They allow even hot pluggable NVMe drives in multiple RAID setup levels and as bootable devices too.RegardsJose A.

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

Do you have any updates, questions or comments in regards to this issue?Please do not hesitate to contact us back.If you consider the issue to be completed please let us know so we can proceed to mark this thread as resolved.RegardsJose A.

[idata]

Hello Salvazo,

We will proceed to mark this thread as resolved. If you have further issues or questions just go ahead and create a new topic.Jose A.